Baby Steps Outside the Standard Pen

Ever since I started making pens last year I wanted to step outside the bounds of the basic kit-driven pen. Here are some of my first attempts at that. The easiest customization to make with a standard pen kit is to leave off the center band. This allows you to make a Euro shape from a slimline, for example, as shown in the first two pictures.

The first one is a red swirly acrylic, not even sure the name, made from a slimline kit without the center band. The second picture is a pen and pencil set made from some bush I removed from our yard – I have no idea what the main wood wood. The center band in these pens is Kingwood. And the basic kits are slimlines (pen and pencil).

The third pen is the first one I did without a center band. Based on a Euro kit, made of Kingwood, I just decided I didn’t really need a center band, it disrupted the flow of the wood, and it was constraining. I’m sure the result is a bit more fragile, but it was a gift for an adult, so I thought it would be OK.

The wooden pens are sanded to at least 600 grit and finished with BLO and CA glue; the acrylic just with MicroMesh to 12000 grit.

My next customization will be to turn a slimline pen without either the center band or the end cap. This will allow me, for example, to create a Euro-style end on the pen, but in wood rather than metal. I’ve currently got the pieces for that project cut out, and a mandrel on the lathe, so that should be my next project posting in a week or two.

-- Nils Davis, Menlo Park, CA